Rail-joint



C. H. LITTLE.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28. I92!- Patented Sept. 13, 192 1.

2 SHEET$-SHEET I- M E.ELi/t tZe/ ATTORN EY WITNESS:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. LITTLE, OI CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAIL-JOINT.

Y To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, CHARLES H. LITTLE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago,-in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My present invention has reference to railway construction.

My object is to roduce a means whereby railway rails will e connected inasimple, easy, strong and eifective manner without the employment offish plates or analogous means.

A further object is to produce a rail joint in which the ends of railsrest on a plate, said rail ends having their base flanges slotted toreceive lugs that are integrally formed on the plate, an inlay beingarranged in the heads of the rails at the said ends whereby the gapbetween the rails, incident to the expansion thereof will be overcomeand a substantially continuous rail presented, the securing means whichpass through the plate for sustaining the same on the supporting ties,contacting the longitudinal edges of the rails and permitting thenecessary expansion and contraction of the rails.

The foregoing, and other objects which will appear as the nature of theinvention is better understood, may be accomplished by a construction,combination and operative association of parts, such as is disclosed bythe drawings which accompany and which form part of this application.

In the drawings a Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improvement.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of F 1g. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a rail end.

Fig. 6 is a view of the chair plate.

The rails 1 have their body portions of the usual construction to eachinclude a head 2, base flange 3 and a web 4 connecting the head andflange. Each flange at the end of each of the rails is formed with aslot 5. Preferably the longitudinal walls of the slot are flareddownwardly so that the said slots are substantially wedge shaped.

The head of each rail, at the end thereof, is formed with a longitudinalslot 6, and the side walls of these slots are also flared.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 13, 1921. Applicationfiled May 28, 1921. Serial No. 473,291.

The rail ends rest on plates 7which are disposedover supporting ties 8.Each plate 7 is provided with apair of spaced longitudina'lly extendinglugs 9, the said lugs being wedge shaped in transverse section toengagewith the wedge slots 5 in the confront- The plate 7, in a linewith the outer edges of the flanges of the rails is provided with aseries of spike openings 11 through which pass spikes 12 that have theirbody portions contacting with the edges of the rail flanges and theirheads disposed over and in con tacting engagement with the upper facesof said flanges.

From the foregoing description, when taken in connection with thedrawings, it will be noted that I have provided a simple means foreffectively connecting the confronting ends of railway rails, one inwhich the employment of fish plates or analogous devices whichnecessitates openings in the webs of the rails is avoided. The plates 7are comparatively long, and therefore effectively support the rail ends.Thus the rail ends will be held from sinking, and incident to the wedgeengagement between the lugs on the plate and the wedgeslots in the baseflanges of the rails relative vertical move ment cannot take place. Theinlay 10 is in the nature of a steel bar, and incident to the shapethereof cannot work either upwardly or downwardly in the slots thatreceive the same. As a consequence, the bearing surface of the wheels ofthe rolling stock will ride over the inlay in passing the joints of therails and will be prevented from sinking when the rails are separated bycontraction.

The ends of the rails are similarly shaped. The lugs are not necessarilywedge shaped so that one rail may be removed from a track withoutinterferring with the remaining rails.

Having described the invention, I claim 1. In a railway construction,the combi nation with rails and supporting ties therefor, of a platedisposed over certain of the ties, said plate having a pair of spacedlonmews- LMA 'gitudinal lugs which are wedge shaped in cross section,the rails having their base flanges, to the opposite sides of their websformed with wedge slots to receive the lugs, and means passing throughthe plate, entering the ties, contacting the edges of the base flangesand overlying and contacting with the top of said base flanges.

2. In a railway construction, the combination with ties, of a platearranged over the ties, said plate having a pair of spaced longitudinallugs which are wedge shaped in cross section, rail ends designed to bereceived on the plate having their base flanges, to the opposite sidesof their webs slotted CHARLES H. LITTLE.

